England 349-6 against Western Australia XI on day one of two
• Four half-centuries for tourists but Alastair Cook and Joe Root go cheaply
• Four half-centuries for tourists but Alastair Cook and Joe Root go cheaply
How to evaluate an opening day where England racked up 349 runs at a fair lick, against opposition with an average age of 22, who dropped more catches (five) than they took wickets (four, with two further retirements) and could seldom sustain pressure with the ball? Where there were four half-centuries for unestablished batsmen, but failures for the seasoned leaders, including Alastair Cook to the tour’s second ball before a run had been scored?
Mark Stoneman, who top-scored with a stylish 85 and put on 153 with James Vince after Cook prodded at the Western Australia XI’s captain Nathan Coulter-Nile (the one bowler of consistent quality England faced), was encouraged and so he should be. He was one of those dropped, on 54, low at gully (an area England’s opposition stacked, sensing a weakness), but looked rhythmical, straight-drove beautifully and cut powerfully. He had asserted that the conditions should suit him here and he backed that up in his first innings, before explaining how England’s preparation is moving through the gears.
“Finding rhythm in a match situation is important,” he said. “You can hit as many balls as you want in the nets but the intensity is not quite there.
“There will be tougher tests but there was nice progression from the work we have done throughout the week. A score helps you settle in to the tour, and helps your confidence. It settles everything down and you can hopefully try to snowball that and you’re not fighting against anything, alleviating technical or mental issues in your mind.”
After weathering a testing opening spell, they cashed in as Coulter-Nile used eight bowlers before lunch, by which point boundaries were flowing and both men had reached 64-ball fifties. Slightly wild bowling in such a game helps, Stoneman said. “It can be a good thing. Your levels of concentration have to be high. If you have a couple flying down the legside then one right on the money, you will make mistakes.”
Vince also reached the eighties, but was less convincing outside off stump, a feature of his fledging Test career. He was reprieved three times between 47 and 67, with the first two near identical drops from cut shots. Coulter-Nile, stationed at first slip, shelled both above his head, while a pull stung the hands of midwicket, who could not take the catch.
A better period of bowling after lunch led to Stoneman edging Lance Morris to second slip when driving, then Aaron Hardie, another young right-arm seamer, dismissed Vince, whose luck ran out when he flicked straight to midwicket, and Joe Root in the same over. Root had been tied down and was given out caught behind off the back pad, and did not hide his disappointment at the decision and becoming the second of England’s key batsmen to fall cheaply. “It’s not a good thing that they missed out,” said Stoneman, “but it is a bit of a lesser problem when it’s two blokes with phenomenal records in Test cricket and who know their games inside out.” He makes a fair point, but only if the pair score runs in Adelaide this week.
Next came the shootout at No5 between Dawid Malan and Gary Ballance, the latter providing the final drop at second slip when on 36. Both played well, reaching half-centuries and neither could be prised out, but Malan remains at least a length in front for selection at Brisbane, thanks to his glorious driving here. He nailed his first ball, which came between the Vince and Root wickets, through mid-off and continued in that vein.
With 75 overs bowled, Jonny Bairstow and Chris Woakes were given a crack and they capitalised on a flagging attack and its fresh Kookaburra. Coulter-Nile, who may well make his Test debut in the forthcoming season and had caused Ballance some trouble with the short ball, charged in, but Bairstow was in the mood, waltzing his way to 36 off 37 balls, and Woakes was happy to amble along in his slipstream.
“Things will ramp up as the tour goes on and greater challenges lie ahead,” said Stoneman. “But that was a pretty good day for a first hit out.”
On the second and final day when the temperature is set to hit 33 degrees, he says, the aim is to take 10 wickets. If the WA XI’s batting is much like their bowling, that seems a pretty modest target.
Day 2/2
England 349/6d
Western Australia XI 342
Match drawn
Coming off an unusually long layoff (by their standards; it is two months since most of this side played a red-ball match), England's first-choice seam attack gained miles in the legs and exposure to the conditions that may serve them well in the weeks ahead. The Western Australia innings was extended - some of their batsmen were allowed to bat again having been dismissed - to ensure England gained a full day in the field. Long before the end, the match had turned into little more than a training session.
In such circumstances, it is probably wise not to reach for too many conclusions. But England will have noted the control offered by Jake Ball - who, James Anderson apart, was easily the most impressive of the seamers - and the struggle Craig Overton had maintaining the required length. They will have noted, too, that Mason Crane tired after a good start - he was plundered for three successive boundaries late in the day - and that Stuart Broad (who conceded nearly five an over) looked as if he needed plenty more overs ahead of the Test series.
And they will, not for the first time, have been grateful for the enduring qualities of Anderson. In conditions in which none of his colleagues could gain any appreciable movement - Chris Woakes, in particular, was pretty much straight up and down - Anderson claimed two wickets in a mid-afternoon spell of five overs for nine runs through his ability to make the ball reverse. He returned later to claim two more wickets in a three-over spell without conceding a run.
There were some worrying moments, though. Moments when England looked just a bit toothless and just a little over-reliant on Anderson. Moments when they looked almost powerless to stop a 20-year-old makeshift opener (he reckoned it was the first time he had opened in five years) without a first-class game behind him scoring at will. Moments when you suspected they could face some long days in the field before this trip is over.
That was never more apparent than when Josh Philippe was rattling his way to 88 not out at lunch. Driving unusually well - he got underway by thumping Broad on the up through extra cover - and was merciless on anything even remotely overpitched. He pulled well, too, and hit 16 fours in his 92-ball innings. Had England's over rate been better - they managed just 25 overs in the first session - he may well have managed a century before lunch.
They may be concerned, too, by a couple of dropped chances. Jonny Bairstow was unable to cling on to a tricky chance offered by Jake Carder off Woakes when he had 18 while Root, at second slip, put down Philippe on 72 off Ball when the batsman edged an attempted cut. Neither was especially easy but, in such circumstances, when chances are so tough to earn, it is essential England accept such opportunities.
There are caveats to all this, though. Most of all, Philippe looks a terrific prospect. He made 93 and 64 in the Futures League against Tasmania recently and scored heavily in club cricket for Taunton in 2016 and Newcastle in 2017. He also represented Durham's second XI on a couple of occasions as an overseas player. There is no reason at all why he should not go on to enjoy a successful career in the game.
Not in England, though. Due to a well-intentioned but ultimately damaging crackdown on visa requirements, Philippe - and many like him - will struggle to return to play in the UK in future years. And there is no UK or European family that can help him gain a passport.
"Unfortunately there's no British passport," he said. "The blokes at Durham were pretty interested in that but there's no French, no European and no British in me. Unfortunately I'm all Australian. Well, not unfortunately. I'm very proud to be Australian and I will try to make it here." The fact that he was watched-on by several generations of his family - his mother also represented WA at cricket - suggests he will not lack for support.
The pitch, too, by WACA standards, was slow and flat. And with little swing, spin or seam moment in evidence, it was always a day when batsmen were likely to enjoy themselves. This was a warm-up game, after all. It was, for England, more about taking part than the scores.
We learned a couple of things, too. We learned that England's new slip cordon - sans Ben Stokes - is likely to see Dawid Malan at third slip (Alastair Cook remains at first and Root is at second), with James Vince in the gully.
We learned that Overton, for all his inconsistency, could trouble batsmen with a sharp change of pace - twice he struck players on the helmet with rearing short deliveries and he also gained the first wicket of the day with Carder falling to the hook trap - and we learned that Woakes, for all his qualities in England, is still searching for a way to make the kookaburra ball move sideways.
"You could probably see from the first session we were rusty," Anderson admitted later. "We didn't quite get it right at all.
"I didn't have much rhythm first up. It didn't feel great and there wasn't much swing either with the new ball.
"But I got better as the day went on and most of the bowlers would probably say the same. You have to bowl very different lengths to England - you can't be as full - and they played pretty well.
"Philippe was pretty good. He obviously threw his hands at everything and on a flat pitch he got away with a lot. But I thought he timed the ball brilliantly."
Perhaps the biggest lesson of all was that, in Philippe, Western Australia have an exciting prospect. He missed out on a century when he skipped down the wicket and attempted to hit Crane back over his head - Bairstow completed a neat stumping - while 21-year-old Clint Hinchliffe later complied an increasingly attractive 75. He, too, has yet to play first-class cricket but both would appear to be names to keep an eye upon.
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